Subgenres

Greg Pak

Biography
by Andrea LeVasseur

American independent filmmaker Greg Pak became interested in filmmaking as a hobby. As a Rhodes Scholar, Pak studied political science at Yale and history at Oxford in preparation for a career in politics. In 1995, he made several PSAs for the New York County Medical Society and they started to win awards. Then his 1997 short film Mouse played at festivals and aired on the International Channel. The next year, he made Fighting Grandpa, a 16 mm documentary short film chronicle of his grandfather's immigration from Korea to Hawaii during the '30s. The film was aired on Cinemax and PBS and quickly became available for educational viewing through nonprofit organizations. Pak also made The Informed Consent Zone, a humorous educational video designed to instruct clinical researchers about the practice of informed consent. During this time, he also worked as a cinematographer on the Academy Award-winning documentary short film The Personals.

Deciding against a career in politics, Pak set up his own film production company, Pak Man Films, in New York City. He also teamed with the New York-based improvisational comedy troupe the Pollyannas, with whom he would frequently collaborate. They worked on several projects together, including the postmodern comedy Po Mo Knock Knock and the biting film parody The Penny Marshall Project. Some of his films -- including the infomercial spoof Asian Pride Porn, starring Tony award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang -- can be viewed on AtomFilms.com. In 2003, Pak finished his first feature film, Robot Stories, a science fiction drama made up of four parts ("My Robot Baby," "The Robot Fixer," "Machine Love," and "Clay"). The film earned him festival acclaim and international exposure as a writer, director, and actor. His next screenplay, MVP, was made into a feature film by Harry Davis and screened at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. In addition to working for various websites (including asianamericanfilm.com and filmhelp.com), Pak also started development on the Western drama Rio Chino.